Would you agree that as a congested city, Kolkata does not have enough urban open space? Would you agree that whatever open space we still have around us needs preservation at any cost? Would you agree that encroachment in public places is a bane in the lives of most Kolkata residents?
Most of the time, I move around in the city in my self-driven car. In self-driving mode, one is so engrossed in navigating around the congested traffic that it sometimes becomes difficult to notice changes around you unless it is directly related to the traffic.
Also, Hazra More is not in my regular route of commute. Hence, I did not notice the recent changes that have occurred in Hazra More. It is not the Hazra more, but Jatin Das Park in Hazra More that changed.
I am not a regular Metro Rail traveller. But the other day I had to go to Dumdum in North Kolkata. I decided to take the Metro Rail from Jatin Das Park Metro station. On my way to the Metro station, I had to cross the Jatin Das Park. That is when I saw the change and was shocked out of my wits.
To my horror, I found that the authorities converted the Jatin Das park into a marketplace - a hawkers’ corner. The park is now a maze of small concrete constructions were hawkers, I came to know, from Kalighat Road have shifted their shops.
I was shocked to see a park in the middle of the city, thus changed, almost overnight. Jatin Das Park, which has a long history and heritage significance to the residents of Kolkata, was turned into a marketplace! I did not hear or read any furore from any NGOs or civic bodies, or environmental activists.
Other than being a centre of political meetings since the days of the independence struggle, the park witnessed a lot of political rallies held during its long life. Also, this park stands next to Kolkata’s one of the most populous undergraduate colleges - Asutosh College. Unlike most of the schools and colleges in and around Kolkata, Asutosh College was lucky to have been situated next to the park. The park was like an extension to the college. It is one of the most important landmarks in South Kolkata.
Converting a park, like Jatin Das Park into a hawkers’ corner, is showing a marked lack of sensitivity by the authorities.
But let me make myself clear lest I am misunderstood and misinterpreted.
Calcutta Municipal Corporation is planning a skywalk from the crossing of Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Road and Kali Temple Road up to the Kalighat temple gate. It was necessary to evict the hawkers from the Kalight hawkers’ corner and Kali Temple Road to build this skywalk.
Now, I am not against any urban project that makes the lives of the citizens easy and better. That area sees high pedestrian traffic due to the Kali Temple, disrupting the daily lives of the residents of that area. A skywalk would go a long way to improve the residents’ lives of that area.
I am also not against hawkers or the rehabilitation of hawkers. In an economy where, even after 75 years of independence, we have not been able to provide enough jobs to the growing numbers of youths, hawking on the streets is the only mode of earning money for most. Those who got stalls in Jatin Das Park are hawkers from Kalighat Hawkers corner and Kali Temple Road.
But shifting the hawkers to Jatin Das Park and converting the park into a marketplace is the last thing the planners should have done. It shows a marked lack of imagination in civic planning on the part of CMC planners. Converting a park into a marketplace cannot be accepted at any cost.
Though, a signboard in the park says that this is a temporary arrangement. Yet, one is never certain. We have seen many such temporary arrangements becoming permanent due to a lack of political will.
The most sought-after civic amenities of well-planned city life are its open spaces, of which parks are just one. By demolishing a park to accommodate a group of people, we are showing a marked lack of awareness for the well-being of the inhabitants of the city.
We are slowly choking our city dead. Most owners of private properties with little space around them are converting them into monstrous and ugly skyscrapers. And there is no law to stop private property owners from doing what they feel is correct for their property.
We have already seen neglect on the part of civic authorities towards, maintenance and upkeep of parks. Kalighat park, just a few hundred meters from Hazra More, is almost defunct. So are a few other parks in and around the city.
Property development is the only source of earning for the population where no new industries are coming up for development. And the parks, with the help of our political bosses, with the apathetic civic authorities, are the first target of various kinds of developmental projects.
Hence, we must preserve our parks, open spaces, and wetlands at whatever cost necessary. Can we allow these atrocities to continue?
It is a bad precedence.
Another park has gone without a furore.
Which is the next one?
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